New episode in the Bastia-Poretta double murder case: a road accident leaves three inmates injured

L’affaire du double assassinat prend un nouveau tournant Illustration

Trois détenus de l’affaire du double assassinat de Bastia-Poretta ont été victimes d’un accident de la route en se rendant à la cour d’assises des Bouches-du-Rhône.

The trial of the double murder at Bastia-Poretta airport has been far from smooth sailing. This case, which dates back to 2017, has been the focus of the Aix-en-Provence Assize Court for over a month, keeping the hearing in suspense. On Tuesday, May 21, the defense lawyers left the hearing and threw the trial into disarray following the Assize Court's rejection of the request for a postponement.

On Thursday, May 23, the court-appointed lawyers, appointed urgently to replace their colleagues, had also requested a postponement in order to better prepare the case, which was again rejected by the Assize Court. Some defense lawyers then denounced a"trial of shame", while the detained accused, refusing to appear, also left the premises.

An accident which does not prevent appearances

Monday, while the judges were waiting for the detainees to begin the session, they arrived at the courthouse… to leave. However, this time it is not their choice, as reported by La Provence. While the inmates were to be transferred from Luynes prison to the Bouches-du-Rhône Assize Court by van, it was hit by another vehicle at 80 km/h. The prison van preferred not to stop and continued its journey to the court, where the victims of the collision could be taken care of. The firefighters were responsible for redirecting three inmates to the prison, Ange-Marie Michelosi, Abdel-Hafid Bekouche and Christophe Andreani, so that they could be examined by the prison doctor.

Nevertheless, Ange-Marie Michelosi, who has refused to appear since May 21, was brought to the box in the middle of the afternoon for a quick appearance. Forced to appear in court even though he was one of the victims of the accident, he accused the trial of being a “scam”.

Finally, the indictment fell yesterday evening: for Christophe Guazelli, 32 years old, the maximum sentence was requested, life imprisonment with a two-thirds security period. The Corsican is seen as the "master of the orchestra" of the double murder. For brother Guazzelli, 30 years of criminal imprisonment were required for his key role as driver of the car. For Matonne, Cathy Chatelain, a sentence of 25 years of criminal imprisonment was requested. The sentences requested for the other prisoners vary between 5 and 28 years.

The pleadings began this Tuesday, June 25, but without the lawyers of the main antagonists in the case, who still refuse to come to court. The verdict should be delivered on Friday June 28.